Ryan Stokes
has been appointed
Seven Group Holding
’s new chief operating officer, putting him in a potential position to succeed his father Kerry in running the family’s media and mining services empire.

After 12 years quietly working away in the business, Mr Stokes, 36, is emerging from his father’s shadow, after last week becoming a director of
Seven West Media
.

Kerry Stokes’s absence was notable at Seven Group’s 2012 financial year results briefing in Sydney yesterday, allowing the spotlight to fall on his son.

“It is a formalisation of a role I have played for some time," Mr Stokes said of his new position. “I’ll step in and add value where I can, or where requested of me.

Mr Stokes did not speak during the briefing, where chief executive Peter Gammell outlined a 50 per cent jump in earnings, mainly due to the company’s WesTrac division that supports mining in Australia and China.

Colleagues describe him as guarded and calm. In recent years Mr Stokes has spent a lot of time in China, which generates 15 per cent of Seven Group’s revenue. But he is equally involved in the media side of the business.

“I love both – I’ve been involved for a long time across both sides of our group," he said. “I feel very fortunate to have had that opportunity."

The Stokes family’s media influence is reflected across the country, and it rivals that of the other family of media scions, the Murdochs.

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Company Profile

Kerry Stokes owns 67 per cent of Seven Group, which in turn owns 33 per cent of Seven West, which houses the leading Seven TV network, West Australian Newspapers, Pacific Magazines and the digital joint venture Yahoo!7. Seven Group also owns a quarter of
Consolidated Media Holdings
, which in turn owns a quarter of Foxtel and half of Fox Sports.

Unlike
Rupert Murdoch
with his sons Lachlan and James,
Kerry Stokes
, who is estimated by BRW to be worth $2.8 billion, has not pushed Ryan into a chief executive role at a young age. The strategy is to acquire experience over time as he is groomed to potentially take over from his 72-year-old father.

Mr Stokes’s new role will not only raise his profile in the investment community, but also enable him to work more closely with management. There is also speculation that Seven West’s new chief executive,
Don Voelte
, former boss of Woodside Petroleum, is mentoring him.

When asked whether his father had been a good mentor, Mr Stokes said: “Yeah, well, I am where I am. I can’t complain."

Yet he is coy when asked what it is like working with a self-made dad who left school at 14 with big dreams and no money. “I’m lucky to be involved with the business," he said. “It’s a privilege."

Ryan Stokes’s brother Bryant – they are both sons from Kerry Stokes’s second marriage – is a director on the board of the Stokes’s private company, Australian Capital Equity, focusing on investment opportunities.

There’s no doubt Ryan Stokes has earned his stripes gradually. After graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce from Curtin University in Perth, he worked as a financial analyst with investment bank Merrill Lynch in the United States.

Colleagues describe him as astute and analytical, with a tendency to challenge managers’ thinking by asking hard questions.

Like his father, he is also known to take a long-term view of 10 to 15 years on strategic issues.

This became apparent when he championed the idea for Yahoo!7, then helped pitch and negotiate a deal with Yahoo! in the US six years ago. Another key player in that deal was Rohan Lund, 41, who ran the joint venture until being appointed chief operating officer of Seven West, a newly created role starting next week.

“For us it’s just about operationally being as strong as we can in the market," Mr Stokes said.